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25 Years of Research on Violent Games

After the violence in Newtown ó and really, any violent mass shooting these days ó it didnít take long before pundits were blaming violent video games for the violence. As happened with comic books in the 1950s, video games have become a scapegoat for deeper societal problems.

Senator Jay Rockefeller proposed a bill mandating that the National Academy of Sciences research the effect of violent media on children, and President Obama himself asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate the relationship between violent media and actual violence to the tune of $10 million dollars in taxpayer money. These calls for more research come despite the fact that previous studies do not support the existence of a strong link between violent media and violent behavior.

Excellent read. For those who don't have the patience to read a long article, it pretty much shows that competition, not video games, leads to violence...

Isn't online gaming competitive? If so, when (around 2007?) did online gaming (particularly FPS) start becoming popular? Does realism account for anything? If so, wouldn't there be a difference between the 8-16 bit days and the gaming of today?

EDIT: Online FPS probably started getting big around the time the original Xbox launched (Halo). And I could be wrong, but didn't the largest increase in online gaming start around 2007 or 2008?

Isn't online gaming competitive? If so, when (around 2007?) did online gaming (particularly FPS) start becoming popular? Does realism account for anything? If so, wouldn't there be a difference between the 8-16 bit days and the gaming of today?

EDIT: Online FPS probably started getting big around the time the original Xbox launched (Halo). And I could be wrong, but didn't the largest increase in online gaming start around 2007 or 2008?

That sounds about right, but I don't know for sure. The latest generation of consoles are the first to make online gaming easy and accessible to all, and they came out around that time I believe.

Realism has little to do with anything as far as gaming and violence goes. In fact, gaming has little to do with violence at all. It's a scapegoat for the fact that we have a societal problem no one wants to acknowledge. It's easier to say that tangible thing over there is the problem instead of admitting we're the problem...

That sounds about right, but I don't know for sure. The latest generation of consoles are the first to make online gaming easy and accessible to all, and they came out around that time I believe.

Realism has little to do with anything as far as gaming and violence goes. In fact, gaming has little to do with violence at all. It's a scapegoat for the fact that we have a societal problem no one wants to acknowledge. It's easier to say that tangible thing over there is the problem instead of admitting we're the problem...

So are you saying that online gaming doesn't bring out aggression? If so, then you would be completely wrong. Have you ever played a game of Call of Duty or Halo online? It is super competitive (Try playing a match if you haven't just for kicks and giggles and see how many times somebody on your team or on the other team curses you out. Or if they aren't swearing at you they are threatening you in some way or another). As a matter of fact my best friend and I play Call of Duty together (He is in Grad School right now for Psychology) when he has free time. He quits playing from time to time because he becomes too "aggressive". Frustration and aggression are two traits that come out quite a bit in FPS's. It is extremely competitive.

Edit: As for the article you posted; I can believe it. Have you ever been to a soccer match in Europe? Pretty intense. Personally, most of my aggression comes out when I am playing sports or playing a FPS online.

So are you saying that online gaming doesn't bring out aggression? If so, then you would be completely wrong. Have you ever played a game of Call of Duty or Halo online? It is super competitive (Try playing a match if you haven't just for kicks and giggles and see how many times somebody on your team or on the other team curses you out. Or if they aren't swearing at you they are threatening you in some way or another). As a matter of fact my best friend and I play Call of Duty together (He is in Grad School right now for Psychology) when he has free time. He quits playing from time to time because he becomes too "aggressive". Frustration and aggression are two traits that come out quite a bit in FPS's. It is extremely competitive.

Edit: As for the article you posted; I can believe it. Have you ever been to a soccer match in Europe? Pretty intense. Personally, most of my aggression comes out when I am playing sports or playing a FPS online.

That same aggression would come out in any competitive situation is the point. To blame it solely on video games is disingenuous. That's what I mean by it being a scapegoat...

That same aggression would come out in any competitive situation is the point. To blame it solely on video games is disingenuous. That's what I mean by it being a scapegoat...

Ok gotchya. I wasn't sure if you were including online gameplay into your video games argument. I do agree with you though. The games themselves don't create the violence. I have always thought blaming "violent" games was a scapegoat. I do think there is a parenting problem in this country though that helps create the decaying society we live in. Too many times I hear children through my microphone when I am playing FPS's online.

That sounds about right, but I don't know for sure. The latest generation of consoles are the first to make online gaming easy and accessible to all, and they came out around that time I believe.

Realism has little to do with anything as far as gaming and violence goes. In fact, gaming has little to do with violence at all. It's a scapegoat for the fact that we have a societal problem no one wants to acknowledge. It's easier to say that tangible thing over there is the problem instead of admitting we're the problem...

I agree totally.

Hmmm ...

Off topic a bit, but could one draw the same generalization of "that tangible thing" to guns?

2015 Goals:
1) Win the next game.
2) See goal #1

"The problem with internet quotes lies in verifying their authenticity."
-Abraham Lincoln

Off topic a bit, but could one draw the same generalization of "that tangible thing" to guns?

They could, but it's not quite the same. No one is trying to take away all guns. They are worried about how easily accessible high-clip assault weapons are, and how they keep ending up in the hands of those people who, for whatever reason, want to kill a lot of people very quickly. They are acknowledging that there is a problem with our society being violent, and the means for that violence taking place is whats being addressed...

Comic books were censored for decades despite a lack of scientific evidence that they caused violent behavior, and the current discussion regarding video games echoes the past. Like comic books, video games are constitutionally protected creative speech, and no amount of fallacious fear mongering justifies their censorship, especially by the government.